The heroin Addiction in New York is more lethal than their use of guns. Deaths caused by drugs abuse duplicated since 2010 until now; last year there was a register of 937 deaths compared to the 541 five years ago.

According to the Health Department, heroin was the cause of six out of ten overdose deaths in New York. Bridget Brennan, prosecutor of New York says that "heroin is consumed as candies", and attributed the epidemic to the abundance of supply.

In 2014, an equivalent of 30 million doses of heroin was confiscated. The statistics show that a good part of the addicts get hooked to this drug thanks to painkillers such as Fentanyl.

New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced on April of this year the creation of a special group centered in drug prevention and treatment for addicts. This initiative focuses in the education of general public, Doctors and Counselors who prescribe treatments that include medicines such as Fentanyl.

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of NYC, also took up the matter to deal with this epidemic of heroin. Among its measures he includes increasing access to treatment by eliminating the prior authorization of insurance and expanding emergency services.

Via El Pais

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Translated by: cristina.mora@sandiegored.com